Borrowed Glass Slippers
by themelody13
Summary: Shy, soft-spoken Bella was always content with being who everyone else wanted her to be. Edward, a rich and arrogant cynic, was the furthest thing from a "prince on a white horse." But somehow he brought out something in Bella. A spark and a rebellious passion that would consume them both.
1. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

_Fairy tales are more than true**:**_

_not because they tell us that dragons exist,_

_but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten_

_-GK. Chesterton/ Neil Gaiman_

* * *

He didn't come in on a white horse. It was quite the opposite actually. A black limousine with dark tinted windows.

Since Volterra Academy was a very prestigious school, seeing a nice car like that wasn't such a big deal. But I'll admit that seeing a long precession of them screech to an alarming halt on the paved driveway was a bit of a shock.

"Jesus," I heard Angela mutter beside me, "You think they'd know there's such a thing as a speed limit."

I laughed at the distaste coloring her face, "And in a school zone, too."

Ms. Cope, our "esteemed" Headmistress shot us an angry glance and made an upward motion with her fingers. Angela and I immediately rectified our positions, straightening our backs and letting our hands fall to the sides of our hideous school uniforms. I swear we were the only girls in whole school who didn't hike up our skirts for the benefit of the male population.

A tall, blonde man in a crisp suit stepped mannerfully out of the front most car, clearly unfazed by the huge marble building that had daunted me so much when I first saw the school grounds last September. Then again, I hadn't been given the welcome this rich and obviously powerful man was getting.

Headmistress Cope had the whole staff and a couple student leaders, including me, waiting for two hours in the frosty chill of December.

Behind the man, two other people had stepped out of the other limos. They were both as willowy and graceful as the former but were clearly younger, maybe my age.

Wow, good genetics definitely ran in the family. They looked like a perfect family from a sitcom or something.

The girl stood like a supermodel with long dark hair the color of oak wood. Her style was impeccable, and her movements were so graceful, I felt like I was watching a performance of Swan Lake, just looking at her walk.

Her male counterpart was, for lack of a better word, breathtaking. He was lean but muscular with tousled bronzish hair that was somewhere in the spectrum between copper and gold.

But what drew me to him was the hostility and fiery passion that lit in his angry green eyes. I could feel Angela's breath catch beside me. I wasn't surprised to feel my own stomach clench.

The blonde man, who I now figured was the Wonder Kids' father, reached for Cope's hand, who for the first time in my three years at Volterra, flushed. My eyes lit up gleefully at the exchange until I felt Angela's foot nudge mine. I frowned and looked up. She gave an imperceptible nod, and I looked to where she gestured.

I gulped. Green Eyes was now staring at me. No, scowling. I looked down at my worn out Keds and looked back up slyly, hoping he had averted his eyes. He hadn't.

"You're kids are so lovely, Mr. Cullen," Ms. Cope was gushing, clearly trying to dig her claws in, "I'm sure they'll fit right into the Volterra Preparatory Academy. We have the highest regard for academic excellence."

Mr. Cullen smiled warmly, "I would expect nothing less from such a highly praised institution."

His charming smile and tone made his identity click in my head. This was Carlisle Cullen, an old Hollywood legend who was now one of the richest men in the world due to his corporate dealings.

"Meet my children, Alice and Edward."

So that was his name. Edward. Self-righteous bastard. Even his name was like royalty. Seriously, what gave him the right to study me like a piece of meat? And I could tell that was exactly what he was doing.

His eyes raked up and down my body, cold and calculating. The awful thing was that I liked it. Was I uncomfortable? Like hell. But it was the good kind of uncomfortable. The toe tingling, breathtaking kind.

At the mention of his name, his head bobbed up imperceptibly before returning to me. His sister on the other hand was all smiles. "It's nice to meet you," she said, shaking Cope's hand like it was the most natural thing in the world. It probably was. Her light, teasing manner screamed socialite.

"Well," Carlisle said, seemingly unperturbed by his son's lack of response, "I think it's time I got back to the office. I'll leave these two in your more than capable hands."

I bit my lip to suppress a smile. Cope was known for her scaly fish fingers. I could just imagine the two squirming in her death grip.

Edward finally broke his intense stare, grabbing his bags from the limo as well as his sister's. I raised my eyebrow. Didn't he have about a million servants who could do that stuff for him?

He smirked at me suddenly, as if to say "Who's staring now?" I blushed and suddenly found an all-consuming interest in the ground. That was the first battle he won. The first of many he would come to win in our long and drawn out history.

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**AN: Please review and all that good stuff. It really means a lot to me.**


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

_If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales._

_If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." _

_-Albert Einstein_

* * *

"C'mon, Bella. Details."

Tanya drummed her empty hand on my leg to emphasize her point, the other hand gripping a pair of chopsticks. One of the benefits of fancy prep schools: good food.

Tanya and I were sitting in the school's food court, eating sushi as she tried to extract information about the Cullens from me. So far, I wasn't doing so well.

"Well, he's really," I paused to think of a word that captured his cryptic as hell, movie star looks, "tall."

Tanya leaned back, exasperation showing in all the lines of her heavily powdered face. "I've been hearing rumors about him all day, and I mean he's Carlisle Cullen's son. Of course, he's sexy as hell. But seriously, all you're giving me is tall?"

I shrugged meekly, wondering why she was even asking me this stuff. Tanya was one of those girls that everyone else simply revolved around. Her Dad was the CEO of Heinz Ketchup, and she was pretty much the only girl in the school who could pull off our, as Jessica would say, "fugly" uniforms. If she wanted information, she could get it. Hell, I wasn't even sure why she was friends with me.

I heard the chair next to me screech, and I recognized the overpowering vanilla scent before I saw the face it came with.

"Hey, Jess."

Her thick mass of curls bounced as she looked around between us. "So what are you guys talking about?"

She tried for nonchalance. Truth be told, Jessica Stanley was the most insecure person I had ever met. If she turned her head away for five seconds, she thought someone was talking about her.

Tanya was just as aware of this as I was. "Nothing," she said innocently, flashing me a knowing smile.

Jessica's face sank faster than the Titanic.

I gave her a reassuring pat, "Just talking about the new kids."

Her eyes lit up. Ironic as it was, gossip was Jessica's forte, which was probably why Tanya kept her around.

"Have you seen that girl Ally or whatever? And that brother of hers, lickable..."

As she went on and on, my gaze drifted around the room. Sure enough, everyone else was gossiping about the mysterious new kids. To be honest, I didn't see the big deal.

I suddenly felt a warm pair of hands settling on my shoulders and a stupid, happy grin starting to stretch across my face. Jacob was here.

Jacob was, well, if you could describe Jake in threee words, they'd be warm, comforting, and chocolate. Okay, no, that's not what I meant. He's just always there for you when you need him. It also doesn't hurt that he has an infectious laugh and a six pack.

Although I honestly did not understand the point of football, I honestly didn't mind this aspect of it. But I mean, really, a bunch of sweaty guys jumping on top of each other for a slab of animal skin shaped like a lopsided soccer ball? Of course, I couldn't say this to Jake, quarterback and all around athlete.

"I hope I don't have too much competition," he teased as he ruffled my hair.

"Don't worry," I joked, grabbing his arm to stop the hair massacre, "It's too late. I've fallen madly in love with Alice Cullen. We're eloping to Vegas tomorrow, and we're going to spend the rest of our lives in a hippie commune. And there's nothing you can do about it."

"I can try," He lips brushed mine briefly, before he sat beside me. "Verdict?"

"Hmm," I pursed my lips thoughtfully, "You can be my maid of honor or walk me down the aisle."

He shook his head, "I'd much rather be waiting at the end of it."

I mentally sighed. Jake had been doing this a lot lately. Making hints and declarations of our impending future together. I used to blush and be so happy that he took us so seriously, but now I just wasn't so sure. I knew how quickly social and marital arrangements worked in the world of money and politics, but I was still only seventeen.

Tanya frowned distastefully. "You guys make me sick."

Well, wasn't she being quite the hypocrite? As far as guys went, Tanya bounced around like a basketball, sleeping with everything in her sight. On the other hand, Jessica was like super glue. Clingy and impossible to get rid of. It took Mike Newton three weeks to convince her it was over.

"Hey, guys. Look."

But Jessica's words were unnecessary, everyone was already looking as the Cullens walked, no glided into the food court.

Alice Cullen was all smiles as she stopped to talk to all the friends she had already made. Tanya's eyes narrowed. She hated competition of any kind. Edward, meanwhile, was still as broody and sexy as he was this morning.

"Fuck. He's hot," Jess breathed.

Hot. Yes, but also unapproachable. No one seemed to have the nerve to walk up and talk to him. Even though he had now changed into the standard school uniform, which I admit did make him look "lickable," he was still somehow different than the rest of us. Other.

Not in a three-eyes alien sense, but just that he didn't seem to belong. Just like me, I realized. The scholarship kid pretending to be just like the rest of these rich, high class people.

I mean I wasn't that poor. I used to live in a not so comfortably middle class apartment with my Mom and her new husband. But I mean compared to the rest of them?

Tanya's Dad had the ketchup thing going. Jessica's Mom used to be a supermodel, and she was on freaking Dancing With The Stars. Even laid back Jake was soon to be the heir to the biggest automobile company in the country.

So when they asked me what my parents did, I couldn't tell them that I was the kid of a small town cop and a flighty waitress who was mooching off of her mediocre baseball playing husband. Nope.

As far as everyone else was concerned, my Father was an important leader in International Communications. I hid the scholarship from everyone and worked my butt off just to proved that I belonged here.

But while I hid behind a cloud of lies, Edward Cullen seemed to be nothing but the dead, hard truth. I wondered which was worse.

Alice managed to drag herself away from her new fan club, and she followed Edward to a deserted table on the edge of the room. Still, no one approached them.

I noticed Jake shooting me a worried glance. I gave him a reassuring smile.

I scoffed, "Did he come into this world scowling like a delusional psycho?"

Edward's gaze perked in our direction suddenly. His eyes were no longer filled with fury. They were more light. He was curious.

"Oh my God. Tanya, I think he's staring at you," Jessica squealed.

Of course, he was looking at Tanya, I realized stupidly. Tanya, with her beautiful locks of blonde hair and her soft, girly giggle. I mean, I couldn't blame him. Edward Cullen was just another teenage boy.

Tanya smiled smugly. "I think someone should go give him a proper welcome.

She sauntered over to him. People gazed at her with shock and envy. No one else had been brave enough to approach him yet.

She touched his arm and thrust out her chest. That was all it took. That was all it ever took for Tanya to rope anyone in. Except Edward wasn't just any teenage boy.

Jessica giggled hysterically, "He's not even looking at her."

Sure enough, Edward's gaze was still fixated at our table, even as Tanya whispered in his ear.

"Bella. I think he's staring at me," Jessica sighed excitedly.

"I'm sure he is," I replied meekly.

I looked at Jake wearily. Sure enough, his typically warm face had hardened. He wasn't stupid. He had come to the same conclusion I had.

Edward Cullen's eyes were once again inexplicably fixated on me.

* * *

**AN: Hullo. Don't worry guys we'll actually get to hear Edward say something next chapter. Well, I mean you won't literally hear-... I mean, because this is-...Yeah, I'm gonna stop there.**

**Ugh, I hated writing Bella with no backbone. Like what's wrong witchu girl? That'll change. ;)**

**(Mental Note: I have to learn how to actually wink.)**

**Sigh. My life is so hard. (Ugh. Eye roll. Who's that bitch?) But in all seriousness. Thank you guys so much for your love and support. I am giving you all big figurative hugs and cookies right now- Mel**

**PLEASE REVIEW**


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